FLYING IN A WATERPLANE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2677, 4 August 1913, Page 2

FLYING IN A WATERPLANE.

(By H. Hamilton Fyfe.)

‘ ‘ls there any difference between living in a watorpL'iine and flying in an oi'diinary aoroifla.no P” I was asked by my neighbor at dinner the other evening, ami a man opposite broke in with “Nona at ail.” “I suppose you have been up in both?” J ventured. “No, never boon up, but I know all about ’em.” Ho was one of the Thiuk-I-Knows, a very large and very bumptious claims; and he was, of course, wrong. There is a great deal of dif--1 ferenoe. Those who have flown in both know that well, and 1 think most of ! them, with mo, infinitely prefer tlio 1 water-plane. Flying in an ordinary land machine ' is like being a disembodied spirit. Everything helps to make you fool that you have loft your own familiar earthly self behind. Even the air-clothing you j put on—the close-fitting cap, the ! leathern suit, the goggles defending 1 your eyes—seems to rob you of your i personality. If you dispense with this / you must devote a large part of your ; attention to holding your eyebrows on. The rush of air sweeps clean away all I the warm pulsations of humanity. The ' earth below becomes strangely insignii ficant. You have ceased to be a man. ! Von have become a god, riding upon i tlie wings of the morning, defying the J whirlwind, dwelling in the heart of the storm. W aterplauiug is very much more human, very much more comfortable. It j baa another advantage also: it is very 1 much more safe. In Mr Grahamo- ! White’s “Wake up, England,” Farm an 1 waterplano the passenger sits in a 1 spacious oar provided with aJi arm- | chair. Ho can lean forward and talk ; to the pilot at easo without having to 1 bellow in his ear and then strain to ; or.tc.li his reply above the roar of the ; motor and the rush of the air. The motor seems less noisy. The rush is certainly not so violent. I did not feel ! as if wo were travelling at a very high 1 speed. We did not hurtle, breathless, j Wo sailed along steadily without any ! sense of effort, very much as a yacht ; travels when it has a moderate breeze j dead aft. I The big “feet” of water pi aa as help ! to keep them steady. They hang down underneath. For their size they are i not heavy. The wood of which ; they are fashioned is slight i and they are hollow. Upon these feet or floats tbo waterplano ■ resin in the water. As soon ns the ! motor is set. going they skim along the 1 surface. When they are - jerked upwards) ever so little the waterplano rises ; off the water into the air. This jerking requires quite a. knack. ’ T have seen an inexperienced water--1 planer pull his lever time after time i without leaving the surface. This is a : maddening experience, not to be able to | get off the waiter. It may bo duo to : weakness of motor-power or to the floats not being shaped quite rightly. well na to the pilot’s want of skill, lies ides being a cause of irritation this driving on' the water, especially if there ho anv waves to speak of, is damaging to the machine. Stays may be strained, bolts loosened, joints wrenched. The ! jh’rfeotod waterplano must have floats which slip easily out of the water and I can ho controlled with certainty, even i in choppy seas. ! Probably, too, they will be boatfthiupcd so* as to cut the water. Thin I lessens the vibration by reducing tho | resistance. Square-fronted “foot” are ; better for descending, but the balance ; of advantage will ho found to li« prob- ! ablv with the canoe float.

Far more thaiu to tho floats, however, ', a tho steadiness of tho waterpiaue in the air duo to the flat surface of the water over which it travels. Few of ua understand much about tho wind. Suppose you asked tho first ten people vou happened to meet, “How are winds created ?” tho chances aro that not one of thorn would know. Tho subject has Peon little studied even by mon of science. A few years ago tho Comte do Lambert told me ha was devoting himself to it, and gave me, I think, a monograph ho had written. Some dav ho will very likely give us an enlightening work that can bo understood by everybody. Ho and all who have had much experience in tho air have learnt from their own experience that unsteadiness of aircraft is chiefly caused (1) by the ground warming under the rays of the min and giving off vapors which, disturb tho atmosphere; (2) by tho inequalities of tho earth’s surface, bills vaiiovs, cliffs, even high buildings, and massets’ of trees. When you cross a range of hills, even small ones, you fool Hi©"air “rough” all about you. Going over a forest in a dirigible, I have rnanv times felt that wo were being pulled down. By what? By the fact that the vapors rising from tho open ground did not rise here, whore tho trees shelterod their soil from the heat of the sun. Those aro tho chief reasons for tho air being jumpy over the land.

Now tho waterplane, so long as it keeps over the sea, has neither of these causes of unsteadiness to contend with. Tlio water does not ohiango its temperature to any appreciable extent when tlio sun shities upon it. It does not thoroforo send up any “romous” or eddies to make traps for airmen wrongly hut conveniently known as “air pockets.” Nor dnos the sea, being flat, make any dii.sturba.noos above it by opposing obstacles to the wind. The winds blow' over it steadily and smoothly. Above a lake a waterpla.no would bo liable to encounter tho squalls caused by shore displacements of wir'd —unless it were a very big lake, like those which lie between Canada and tho United States. They are really inland seas. Above the sea in ordinarily good wonthoiyt can count upon steady air. So far as steadiness goes, then, present types of aeroplanes and more thau equal to the flight across the Atlantic. If they can fly lung distances over the land with all its inequalities (off which the winds slide with great force and so make the atmosphere rock) it stands c-o reason that they can fly still more successfully over tho sea. What they need is, first of all, floats that will bo seaworthy in waves of moderate force; and, next, a motor of sufficient power and reliability to keep them going for seventy-two hours without demanding any serious repair. They ought also to bo able to carry enough petrol for tho whole journey across the Atlantic. Some may count upon picking up supplies, but xhat is a reckoning which could bo thrown out. It would be wiser to run no risk. An ! engine, therefore, is required which j does not “oat” petrol and which does { not batlio in oil. It must be content with a smaller store of both spirit/ and j lubricator than the motor that has been | imt in favor with airmen during tho j ast few years. These needs will be met for certain. I 1 have no doubt whatever about die At- j antic being crossed. And then I be- j ieve that many who can afford water- • )lanes will take to them for pleasure, j tho sensations are delicious. The I nachine rises from the water (when it j s skilfully handled) with less effort j ban a seagull uses. You do not know ! ’on have left the surface until you look I town and see it below you. tip aloft j onr orait wines an untroubled flight.

easy to manoeuvre, neither pitching nor swaying.

Now a swoop to the water, no shock, scarcely a splash. A gentle glide through on© element and into another. .Now up again, shaking the water off delicately like a heron when it flies. No sense of insecurity, no discomfort, nothing to mar enjoyment of the perfect freedom and the exhilarating effect. Wafcerplaning contains all the delights of sailing anc more, without that curse which keeps so many off the water —the “evil of the sea,” sea-sickness. When you have tried waterplaning you will say that I do not praise it half warmly enough.